I have a stack of folders sitting in front of me and another stack to my right on the window seat. There are notes sticking haphazardly from commentaries, multiple Bibles, scholarly books.

My mind races.

My heart beats exuberant.

I want to learn everything and share everything all at once.

In the excitement,in a desire to convey it all, what remains are half written blog posts, copious stacks of scattered written thoughts on notecards, hundreds of scribbled sticky note posted questions. Concepts I had failed to understand, questions long unanswered, random notes and dates in Bibles and journals become clear and I understand Yahweh has been speaking to me for long time, leaving a trail for me to follow, puzzle pieces of a map lay scattered through the pages. Trying to make sense of it all can be maddening.

The last three years have taught me some important things:

To use caution in selecting the teachers to whom I listen and in the people with whom I associate.

There are consequences to whom we align ourselves. In the flurry of my excitement, I had associated myself with people who at first seemed to align with my thinking, but I soon realized did not understand what they were teaching nor were they clear on what they believed. They allowed their excitement and emotion to rule their actions and the end result was disastrous. And in the midst, others drifted in and out of my life who had strange ideas – things I had never heard of before, much less considered.

I was suddenly viewed as a heretic and a judaizer and people had no problems with stating it to my face or through private messages. Self-professed leaders slandered me ruthlessly.

It was guilt by association: no one cared what I believed nor did they bother to ask, they only cared about the company I had kept.

Solitude is the greatest gift Yahweh allowed me.

I won’t lie to you. What happened was painful, but it was necessary. But when Yahweh decides to prune us so we will bear fruit, is it ever really easy? I think not.

I sat back and for the first time in my life, I kept my mouth shut. I let people move and speak and I refused to defend myself. I immersed myself in Scripture; I let Yahweh do my fighting for me.

I read His Word.

I let Him work.

And I waited for what seemed an eternity..

And I studied in every spare moment I could find…

And I prayed. And then I prayed some more.

In the end, the truth of the situation emerged, but it was crucial that I allowed Yahweh to weed out the people in my life that were doing me harm and not good.

Community is valuable; to study with others a blessing. But times of solitude are beautiful; for it is in those times, the attributes of Yahweh and Yeshua and our own character are revealed which are imperative to forge the relationship as it ought to be because it forces a spiritual maturity we otherwise might never achieve.

To slow down, take time to thoroughly study, and never rush the process.

I had to throw out everything I had been taught – not only from church, but from the local Hebrew Roots fellowship I was a part of – and start over from the beginning. It is not that everything I learned over the years was errant, but if we do not begin with Scripture as a foundation and ultimate authority, then how will we know what is right and what is wrong.

In my solitude, I was able to dig deep into scripture and allow my curiosity to take control and let my thoughts ramble and let the Spirit lead me.I had no idea which direction it was headed on any given day and I was completely at ease with this path. I have learned more about Yahweh and Yeshua by letting my curiosity take over and run rampant like a wild child than all the preaching I had listened to my entire life. And I learned it is crucial to our growth to stop listening to what people think they know and sit still and listen to Yahweh so He can show us what we need to know.

Accuracy is important; I never want to misrepresent Yeshua.

This wayward and unruly curiosity proved to be a bit of a handicap. When I sat down to write, to share these ideas with you, it made me appear scattered as if I didn’t have a clue what I was talking about; this made me nervous. All these notes and folders stacked high and falling all over the floor make me feel overwhelmed and chaotic. So I stopped writing and began reading; I educated myself.I found teachers on-line who, while I don’t always agree with completely, gave their resources for the opinions they formed so I could research things for myself. I bought commentaries and books written by scholars and read peer-reviewed papers. The internet is a mine field: anyone can write anything. It was important to set parameters of where I gleaned information. Opinions do not matter if they cannot be supported by facts. In being an image bearer, there is no room for engaging in conspiracy theories or performing sloppy research and I guard myself against such things.

The only reasons to seek knowledge are to gain wisdom and to connect more deeply with my Savior and better serve my King.

I took a step back and prayed for revelation about what direction to head and how to go about sharing all I am learning and how it is impacting my journey with Yeshua. And He reminded of something important, something I had long forgotten.

He reminded me of the reason I began this blog. It wasn’t to promote any particular idea or to sell books or to indoctrinate. It was to share the beauty and the wonder and the majesty of Yeshua. It was to share my journey in the hopes that those who did not know Him, would want to forge their own relationship with Him.

So I am going back to the beginning. I am going to write my journey like the love letter that it is – the beauty and the uncertainty and the imperfectness of it all. And if you never learn anything else about me, know this truth: I love Yeshua. He makes my heart beat wild with excitement and my life worth every breath I take. And I want that same experience for you.

Hopefully along the way, we will learn about Him together and we can marvel at the wonderful beauty of who He is and what He has done for us. Ultimately, whether our beliefs differ or align, whether you call Him Yeshua or Jesus, whether you follow Torah or you do not, Yeshua/Jesus must be at the center and all attention and focus must remain on Him. He is our Messiah and our King; we are His image bearers.

It can sometimes feel complicated, but it is really quite simple:

Of all the things we tend to focus on each day, the things that divide us, most of it doesn’t really matter. Of all the obstacles we fail to successfully navigate and people we fail to handle with grace, we know there is a better way. And that way is to focus on what does matter most.

We must keep our face turned toward Yeshua, so we understand a simple truth: What really matters most is only how He loves us and how we love Him and how we love each other.

And if we can remind ourselves of this upon waking each morning and before falling asleep each night, then we are better able to shake off the dust of hurts and divisions and betrayals, and be a light reflecting Him into the world.

Now let us go and be that light.

Most importantly, love each other deeply, because love will cause people to forgive each other for many sins. ~ 1 Peter 4:8 ncv

My prayer life has evolved in ways I could never have imagined it would. I do not remember the first time I caught myself talking to Yahweh – just right out loud for anyone to hear as if there were another person in the room. I am certain it began in a fit of frustration, of feeling my prayers weren’t being answered quick enough or right enough, certain it was more in the form of a rant than a prayer or even a civil conversation.

I do remember about a year ago driving home from town, Tobias with his head hanging out the window, the summer’s afternoon sun shining bright, and I was having a conversation. It was just me and Tobias and Tobias was paying me no mind at all.

It startled me when I realized I was talking out loud. It wasn’t about anything in particular. I was noticing the clouds and the sun, talking about how much I missed stopping to talk to Mr. Young at his vegetable stand since he had died last spring, discussing the hollyhocks he was growing for his mother and how wonderful it tasted to pick a tomato straight form the vine and eat it still warm from the sun. I was excited about my new chicks and my honey bees and I rambled on a bit about them both. I was wondering about rain and when it was coming because it seemed a drought had set in. I was describing the sukkah I would build for Tabernacles and how exciting it would be to camp out for eight days. I was asking if I drank my morning coffee on Day of Atonement, would I still be counted as having afflicted myself.Without pausing, I determined no.And when I realized I was talking out loud as if Abba or Yeshua or both were sitting in the seat right beside me, I wondered if this conversation counted as praying without ceasing. I also wondered how crazy I might look if someone other than Tobias noticed.

The thing is I am a writer and an artist and for sure an introvert. I spend a lot of time alone. I talk to my dog. A lot. And without fail, he will sit and listen. But not today. This day he had not even bothered to duck his head back in the window which would have been the normal action when he hears me speak. And it made me wonder exactly how long had this been going on;how often had this talking out loud to Yahweh been happening that even the dog realized the difference.

As the year wore on and came to a close, I began to feel the need for stillness, a desperation for quiet. And the question nagged my spirit – how much am I listening?

This year has half passed into history and I have been failing miserably at it. This stillness. This waiting. This listening.

Prayer is many things. It is thanksgiving. It is praise. It is petition and it is intercession. It is also listening.

Prayer is a constant and never ceasing conversation. Conversations require more than one person to happen; otherwise, we are orating.It is equally important to listen as it is to speak. With Yahweh, listening is more important; listening is vital.

Praying is a weighty responsibility.

Praying for ourselves or for someone’s salvation or interceding on behalf of others requires trust that no matter what happens, Yahweh deems it necessary – whether we view it that way or not.

Too often, I think, we pray contradictory prayers. Too often we ask Yahweh to act, then attempt to restrict His actions; this is a lack of trust on our part. We can say we trust Him, but if in the midst of our prayer we are instructing Him how to answer it, then we are treating Him like a genie in a box – someone with whom we approach to do our bidding.

And this is no way to approach our King.

Over the past few years, Abba has been teaching me new ways to pray. Of all the things He has taught me, I believe it is most important I come to Him in honesty, stripped of pride, and that with respect, I can say anything to Him.

I believe the most effective prayer is one filled with the rawness of our desperation.

Desperation to repent – for ourselves, for others, for our nation.

Desperation to cry out — in confusion and in honesty, in fear and in joy.

Desperation to seek His truth and understand His wisdom.

Desperation to be purified and washed in all that is Holy.

I believe there is nothing more powerful than when we get down on our knees in reverence before our Elohim, kneeling in awe of His omnipotence as our King, in humility and in love as our Father. Prayer is a time to be encouraged by His mighty power; a time to allow ourself to be humbled by His greatness and to be honored to enter His presence. Above all, it is a time to be still and know He is your Elohim and He delights in the precious moments when you are His alone.

As we practice listening, often, times of stillness and silence will feel lonely. But loneliness is a gift if we learn to meditate and capture the silence to focus on Yahweh. For it is in the silence, Yahweh speaks.

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.”

~ Jeremiah 31:33

My husband and I sat outside one afternoon and I posed the question, “How do we define ourselves now?” I felt conflicted and torn. I had no desire to be labeled, no desire to be a part of belonging to any group or denomination or religion. Of course, there has been no shortage the last couple of years as word traveled about our small town of who others thought we were – and let’s be honest, it is crushing how cruel Christians can be to one another.

So now, faced with a conundrum of epic proportions, we faced our dilemma.

Now, you might believe that it doesn’t really matter, but words carry with them connotations and emotions and how we categorize ourselves speaks of what we believe.

If I say I am a Christian, the average person might describe that as not adhering to specific commands in the Bible such as not eating pork. It would be assumed that I attend church on Sunday instead of keeping Yahweh’s Sabbath, and that I celebrate Christmas and Easter as a main focus on the birth of Christ and His resurrection.

If I say I am a part of the Hebrew Roots movement, then people might believe that I am a multitude of things and many of them not good things. Mostly, it would be believed that I a heretic and Judazier (and I have been called both) because I believe the Torah is to be applied to my life and that differs from what the mainstream protestant church teaches Paul said.

It seemed we did not really fit into a category and it bothered me a bit. Mostly because we are misunderstood. How would I explain in a word or two how we identified as followers of Yeshua?

There were other conflicts as well. My husband inquired about a lamb for Passover at the grocery – we live in a small southern town and it is primarily Baptist in denomination. As my husband is standing in front of the butchers with the mission of purchasing a leg of lamb, questions arise of when he needs it by – my husband replies for Passover. This sends a wave of confusion forth. One goes to the back to retrieve a calendar. They look at dates and confer and then one looks up at my husband and says so very seriously, “Isn’t Passover a Jewish thing?”

For me, keeping Sabbath is an easy task. I do not work a secular job – I take care of the homestead and write and compile study notes as a point of basis for our Sabbath discussions; for him, he must navigate days off and repeatedly explain why Saturday is not a day for him to work, but Sunday is fine. So in a world of categories and labels, how does one define themselves in this instance?

We are Christians, but yet we do not adhere to mainstream christian doctrine. We study the Bible in the Ancient Near Eastern context of which it was written, yet Hebrew Roots is not an apt description. We keep the feasts of Leviticus 23 in lieu of christmas and easter, but we aren’t Jewish. We eat a clean diet as prescribed in Leviticus 11 – and that causes raised eyebrows here in the South where main dishes often are ham and bar-b-que.

We sit. We discuss. Because we want to accurately define our faith without necessarily having a 3 day discussion.

I suggest we tell others we live a Biblical life.

He firmly replies, “I am not living without electricity.”

I laugh because I know this about my husband – he has two battery backups for his phone because he is never without it.

So enter in the long lost and forgotten book I bought last autumn. I love watching TED talks. And everyday, a new one arrives in my inbox. So last year, I watched one presented by A.J. Jacobs entitled, “My Year of Living Biblically” and not knowing who he was, I was thrilled thinking that here was someone who was on the same path as my husband and myself. A fellow truth seeker and follower of Yeshua.

Ummmm….yeah. Not exactly.

In short, A. J. Jacobs likes to do experiments and then write about them. He is an editor at Esquire which explains why I had no idea who he was. And this talk was about one of those experiments. His goal was to live the Bible as literally as he could. So he proceeded to write down all the laws in scripture and follow them. In the course of the year, some unexpected things happened that he says brought about unexpected changes in his mindset and in his habits. His reasoning and views of the Bible differed greatly from mine, and yet I was curious. From an agnostics point of view, how would it look to try and live a biblical life? For myself as a believer, it simply meant seeking the truth and applying it to my life for the purposes of being set-apart and holy as Yahweh commands me to be and to accurately reflect Yeshua to the world.

His talk was intriguing and inspired me to think more about what living Biblically really did mean. I bought a copy of his book. I placed it on the table beside the bed where my current reading list of books reside and forgot about it.

But as I have drifted on my own, with no fellowship group, remembering all the lessons I had to learn the last two and a half years, my thoughts kept returning to who I am – how do I fit into the body of believers? How do I define myself and more importantly how do I explain to others what I believe. We live in a world of labels and categories. What one word describes who I am in relation to Yahweh?

Because what we really are is an enigma.

We don’t fit into the multitude of categories the world creates.

And maybe that is how it should be. Just maybe that is the beginning of being set-apart – this not fitting in. And the why of not fitting denotes to whom we belong.

And that prompted me to pick up that forgotten book in the stack. To explore whether the journey of an agnostic would really be that much different than my own even if our motives for the journey were. Because regardless of the reasons, one thing is guaranteed, we both are changed for it for Yahweh’s divine purposes.

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

~ John 17:16-18

This series will be housed under The Art of Living Biblically category and need not be read in any specific order. If you are interested in the TedTalk, here is the link:

Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am Yahweh your Elohim.

Leviticus 20:7

On our journeys through this life, things can change; when you walk with Yeshua, it is a certainty. This path of sanctification we travel leads us to truths that transform our thoughts and our actions. We do not travel this path at the same speed or learn the same way so patience is a requirement – with ourselves and with each other.

We spend too much energy fighting and fussing over who is right instead of just doing what is right. We spend too much energy putting others in their place only to find we are out of ours. Satan loves this discord among us and he wants it to stay just that way; personally, I believe he gets his way much too often.

I want to explain some things because the entirety of my life I have been misunderstood. When speaking, I am the least articulate person in the world and I often misspeak creating more confusion. As the last couple of years have worn on, things have been said about me that were crushing. At first I thought people were just being mean with their small town gossip; then one of my friends on Facebook, someone I had known for over a decade, chimed in with a private message that echoed the same sentiments. Now after some time isolating myself, tending to and forgiving the hurt, I have come to realize all of their comments were borne out of arrogance and ignorance. The ignorance I can help change with my writing if they are willing to test it all to the scriptures; the arrogance I can do nothing about. The hardening and softening of hearts is Yahweh’s business; all I can do is forgive as I have been forgiven. For those who just simply do not understand the changes, this is for you. And I would ask that you simply extend the grace to me that I extend to you so we might learn the truth of scriptures together.

On Sacred Names

I am not a sacred namer. I believe there is just as much power in the name of Jesus as there is in Yeshua. For me though, there is something about calling Him by His name that is pleasant and pleasing. Let’s be honest here, He is not the one who is confused about who He is. Whether we call Him Jesus or Yeshua – He knows when we are calling on Him and He knows just what to do.

YWHW or as I have been writing YaHWeH or Yahweh, is God’s name. Elohim is the same as God and is a title. In the King James version of the Bible, when it says “the LORD” it means YWHW. So when I type, Yahweh your Elohim it means the same thing as the LORD your God. I just prefer to call Yahweh by His name instead of by His title. Just like Yeshua, whether you call Him God or LORD or Yahweh or Abba (Father) or Adonai (title for Lords), He knows who you are calling on and exactly what to do. We are all just doing the best we can with some consonants.I am sure one day, He will set us all right because I feel certain none of us are saying it correctly. And now I am not a betting girl, but I think that is a pretty sure bet.

On Holidays and Holy Days

In our household, we no longer celebrate Christmas or Easter. There are many people who believe they are pagan in origin and maybe they are; I am not going to debate those things. I simply see no basis in Scripture for them to be celebrated. They are man created and instituted traditions, and Yeshua Himself taught against traditions that took the place Yahweh’s doctrine (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7).I don’t celebrate Purim or Hanukkah either although for different reasons.

In Leviticus 23, Yahweh gives us Holy Days to celebrate and we celebrate them to the best of our ability. For example: During Passover and Unleavened Bread we don’t slaughter a lamb, but we do remove the leaven from our home and eat unleavened bread for seven days. On Day of Atonement, we fast and pray. During Tabernacles, we camp out for eight days. We keep the seventh day Sabbath as commanded from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. At the point in history when Yahweh gave these commandments there were no jews; there were only Hebrews – or those who had “crossed over” to follow Yahweh. (This will be a topic we will cover later on.) The point is that we are not to be like the world; we are to live set apart. Yahweh gave these Holy Days and His commandments to create in us holiness because He is holy (Leviticus 20:7, 1 Peter 1:15-17), so the world would know to whom we belong.

I also want to note this: I see nothing wrong with worshipping on Sunday. I think we ought to be worshipping everyday; that is how the apostles did things. But there is a command to keep the seventh day set apart and holy (Exodus 20:8). The seventh day Sabbath has not been replaced nor changed to the first day of the week; we need to understand this and obey the command given by Yahweh to keep it holy and set apart.

On Food

We adhere to the Leviticus 11 diet. He gave it to us for a reason – so we would be healthy. Period. So don’t be offended if you have a low country boil or bake a ham and I don’t partake. I know most people believe that Acts chapter 10 gives us authority to eat all things, but my studies have led me to believe this is a misconception. And we will discuss this in greater detail in another blog post.

The Torah

I am learning the doctrine of Yahweh and applying what should be applied. The Torah is our instruction for righteousness.(John 7:16, Proverbs 4:2)Yeshua said it would not pass away until Heaven and Earth pass away and last I checked they are still here. (Matthew 5:17-19) Often times, we are following the traditions of men created by the church fathers and don’t even realize they contradict what scripture says. Yahweh was clear when He told us not to add to nor take away from His word.(Deuteronomy 4:2,Deuteronomy 12:32,Revelation 22:18) If we educate ourselves with learning Torah, then we can spot false teachers and false teachings, and we can better understand what Yeshua and Paul actually taught.It seems to me people seem more concerned with what they think Paul said instead of what Yeshua plainly said. I think we need to study these things because anyone who has spent time in the New Testament knows Paul loved Yeshua, told us to imitate him as he imitated Christ(1 Corinthians 11:1), so does it seem He would contradict what Yeshua taught? If you have not thought about this before, I urge you to consider it now and pray about clarity to understand.

In closing, I will leave you with this…

I think not one of us ought to get too high and mighty about things…we all can be wrong about anything and we need to remain humble enough that Yahweh can mold us and teach us His wisdom and His ways and His truth. If our time is spent with our noses in our Bibles learning the ways of Yahweh and Yeshua, and our time is spent serving as Yeshua taught us, we will nothave time to be arrogant for we will be too busy spending the time at Yeshua’s feet being the servants and the disciples He calls us to be.

And Yeshua said to them, “Come after me, and I shall make you to become fishers of men.”

Rarely a day goes by that I do not see it – a calling out of someone publicly. The topics vary, yet the reasons remain unwavering: the need to be right and be praised for it. Unknown fingers fly across keyboards, faces hidden, motives clear: humiliate whoever disagrees with your stance. What ought to be a private conversation, becomes a carnival show of hate. The aftermath of this arrogant judgement and spewed hatred is always the same: hurt feelings, humiliation, scathing remarks that leave scars heart deep on the victim. The claim of justification for the vitriol immutable: accountability while sharing the truth in love.

On the heels of this pridefuljudgement, gossip and slander never fail to follow. And this monster called arrogance grows.

I expect it from the abyss of the world who is absence Yeshua and His love, ignorant to His grace and His Truth; for those who claim to walk in Torah, it perpetually blindsides me. I suppose I just expect more from people who serve an Elohim of love, who ought to be reflecting that love.

Pride and arrogance are fed by our insecurities. They are fed by our carnal desires for praise and adoration from people. We ought to ask ourselves when this shift took place, when being more pleased with the adoration of men and being less pleasing to Yahweh was allowed a foothold. He created us for a purpose only known to himself and ego fed desires thwart our purpose creating a path of self-reliance. Self-reliance steals the glory from the only one who deserves it. And regardless of the plan, we each have a duty as a follower of Yeshua: create disciples and teach them His commandments. Who wants to follow Yeshua if His followers are proud and arrogant, prone to slander and gossip and hate speech, quick to publicly shame those they indignantly judge?

Yeshua was the perfect picture of humility. His words convicted, never humiliated. Even in a crowd. Why if we claim to follow Him, is it so difficult to tame our tongues, speak words that teach and heal? Because the tongue is an unruly evil that no man can tame.

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man is able to tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, filled with deadly poison. With it we bless our Elohim and Father, and with it we curse man who have been made in the likeness of Elohim. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brothers, this should not be so. ~ James 3:7-10

And for that reason alone, we can not wage a war with everyone who disagrees with us. I would suggest the best path is one of silence and meditation on the Word for He teaches us the way to walk, to speak, to act, to be faithful. And that is the way it should be, a walking out of our faith in such a way that it intrigues people and makes them seek Yeshua and His truth.

Pride always points to us; sharing truth and exemplifying love and grace point to Him.

I believe we ought to have a boldness. But that boldness must present in the form of an unwavering stance of adhering to truth and not in a form of bullying and hostility and shaming. For we are called to be a peculiar people, example setters, a beacon of light.Screaming opinions, bullying others, and prideful words never changed anyone’s mind.

I would even say this: if you must call some one out by name on their behavior or belief and you do it in a public forum such as facebook, you most certainly are doing it for your glory, not Yahweh’s. You are doing it to show all your connections how right you are and how knowledgeable you are all while shaming someone else to show how wrong they are and how ignorant they are. Sounds a little bit like the Pharisees if you ask me. Yeshua has much to say about them too: He called them hypocrites and vipers.

There is always a possibility we are wrong; if there was not, we would be Yahweh. Being open to that possibility allows truth to emerge. Being humble allows us to be taught. If our position is simply proving we are right, then we are arrogant to believe we are more knowledgeable than our Elohim who seeks to teach us and mold us in His image. And above all, His image is love and His image is Truth.

The worst thing is not being wrong, but being an abomination to Yahweh.

These six matters Yahweh hates, and seven are an abomination to Him:

a proud look,

a lying tongue,

and hands shedding innocent blood,

a heart devising wicked schemes,

feet quick to run to evil,

a false witness breathing out lies,

and one who causes strife among brothers.

But we are told how to protect ourselves from falling into the trap of these abominations:

My son, watch over your father’s command,

and do not forsake the Torah of your mother.

Bind them on your heart always;

tie them around your neck.

When you are walking about, it leads you;

when you lie down, it guards you.

And when you have woken up, it talks to you.

And then we are told why:

For the command is a lamp,

and the Torah a light,

and reproofs of discipline a way of life.

~ Proverbs 6:16-23

He gives us good instruction and yet we forsake His Torah. We ignore the words that lead us in the way to be holy and righteous and good. All for the satisfaction of being right. For being praised. For adoration. For a soon forgotten moment’s glory. For the applause, most often, of people we do not even know. All for a tongue that will not be tamed and for a fleeting satisfaction that can never fill our deep inadequacies that are only meant to be filled with Yeshua.

As Yahweh’s created, we need to be on our faces before Him seeking true humility and cloaking ourselves in it because if our walk doesn’t match His commandment to love, our witness is void.

Love is never proud. It does not boast. Nor is it self-seeking, easily angered, dishonoring to others. And if you must go around telling everyone how humble you are, how loving you are, how you are just speaking the truth in love, then probably you are not. There is a reason we are known by our fruits: they are seen not shouted. We must be in a state of perpetual self-examination, questioning where we are lacking in our character, repenting of it, and beseeching Yahweh to fill those holes with the fruits of His character. His love and peace and joy. His patience and kindness, goodness and faithfulness. His gentleness.And certainly His self-control.

Yet if instead, we choose a path of arrogance and pride, of always boasting our opinions, of always shouting why we are right, scripture is clear in its warning.

Pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom. ~ Proverbs 11:2

Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to Yahweh; hand to hand: he goes not unpunished. ~ Proverbs 16:5

Before destruction comes pride, and before a fall a haughty spirit! ~ Proverbs 16:18

Have you seen a man wise in his own eyes? There is more expectancy for a fool than
for him. ~ Proverbs 26:12 And Paul reminds us later in Romans 12:26 when he says, “Do not be proud in mind, but go along with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.”

One often reproved, hardening his neck, is suddenly broken, and there is no healing. ~ Proverbs 29:1

Possibly, we ought to heed the warnings.

No one has ever made himself great by showing how small someone else is.

~ Irvin Himmel

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Yahweh looked down from the heavens on the sons of mankind, to see if there is a wise one, seeking Yahweh. ~ Psalm 14:2

It all started with the dream. Scripture waving around like a flag.

And it was lost on me. A friend gave good counsel…“Right there in your Bible. Write it down. Date it. So you don’t forget. Otherwise you will.”

So I did.

And often as I flipped through pages wearing, worn with study, there it would be. The note peeking. It’s meaning as elusive as ever like some endangered wild beast.

Years pass by fluttering into eternity and I wait for clarity, but never ask for wisdom. All the while a lifetime of questions about Yahweh wait for answers, but no one I ask seems to have them.

There is this element to truth though; its very nature is tenacious and haunting, nagging at the fringe of your consciousness until, its presence undeniable, it is unable to be tucked away into the recesses of your mind to be forgotten.

And when the discernment of truth comes hurdling toward you like a freight train bearing down…..part of you wants to avoid it, side step it because truth has this way of making you uncomfortable, making you squirm. You can try to filter it or color it to make it look presentable or even soften it with sweet sounding words. But in the end, the truth is what it is and it is never what it is not.

What is crucial for us to understand, is there is always ever only one truth: Yahweh’s truth. Perceptions and feelings don’t matter much because when we look at truth we filter it with emotion and fear; emotion and fear taint it unrecognizable until the truth becomes a lie lived in ignorance. For too many years, I drifted in and out of church because what was taught from the pulpit did not always align with what I read during the week in my Bible.For too many years I dwelled in ignorance believing the problem was me and an inability to understand.

I needed deliverance from my ignorance because that is where satan wanted me to remain, nourished by emotion fed strife and the soul destroying turmoil of doubt, with my skewed perceptions sucking me down like quick sand. And it is from this sinking pit, my questions were birthed amidst panic and doubt instead of a seeking of wisdom. Then one day Yahweh illuminated this verse for me:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask Elohim, who gives generously and without reproach, and it shall be given to him. But he should ask in belief, not doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. ~ James 1:6

I was astounded at the depth of my doubt. Where had it come from or had it always been? And why was it there at all?I knew what I believed, but not why I believed it. I couldn’t defend one belief I had; I simply believed because someone else told me what they preached was true.Wasn’t I supposed to be ready to give an answer to anyone who asked why I believed what I believed? Everything I believed and everything I acted on was based on a feeling and should it not be based on a scripture? It all seemed too ambiguous.

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. ~ Acts 17:11

It was then I asked myself…

Am I defending my beliefs or am I am seeking wisdom and truth? Is there a possibility my beliefs are wrong even though the majority of the Christian faith believes them too? Could I back up everything I believed with scripture? I had to look at mainstream Christianity and evaluate whether it reflected a narrow path or a broad road. What I saw reflected was division in every denomination over issues scripture is clear on. One would hope through these fissures the foundations of truth would rise up, but congregates are too busy shouting and making noise and satan sits laughing because he knows the scripture better than most of us; he knows what Hosea says, that Elohim’s children are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

There were things I knew to be truth: Yahweh does not change. His word stands forever. Yeshua was my savior and the only way to the Father. Everything else had to be tested, questioned, proven, but not necessarily thrown away. I needed to know why what I believed, if it was wrong, why it was wrong because only then could I properly create an argument for the truth. And isn’t that what apologetics really is at its core – understanding all sides and defending what emerges as truth. Otherwise, aren’t we just defending our opinions?I knew with certainty the Bible held no contradictions and therefore if there appeared to be a contradiction, it must be a misinterpretation. I knew I had to entertain the possibility that my beliefs were wrong otherwise I would not be seeking truth; I would be defending opinions and defending those opinions would blind me to the truth. I read a lot about what scripture said concerning the seeking of knowledge and wisdom and how Yeshua spoke in parables saying, “He who has ears, let him hear.” I wanted ears; ears that could hear and recognize truth. And I prayed Yahweh would give them to me. I became a Proverbs 2 girl and prayed it over and over and over again. I thought about Jeremiah 33:3 that says, “Call to me and I will answer you, and tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”I wanted to know those great and hidden things. I read again and again John 8:31-32, “So Yeshua said to those Yehudim (Jews) who believed Him, If you stay in My Word, you are truly My taught ones, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” And I wanted to be a disciple, taught by Yeshua and I wanted to be free. But how could I truly know Him if He is the Word and I lacked wisdom to understand what it said?

So I asked. I asked for Truth. I asked for wisdom to recognize it. I asked for it to fall from above like rain on parched soil. And Yahweh answered.

And like a dog leaning into a good ear rub with a deep moan, I leaned in to Abba’s truth with shouts of joy.

I was utterly unprepared for what happened next. I foolishly made assumptions others would share my eagerness and excitement in this new knowledge. Instead I was shunned. I was gossiped about. I was called a heretic and a Judaizer.

What do you do when satan double dog dares you to keep seeking as you sit confused and wondering how things could have taken such a drastic turn?

Knowing it will cost you friends.

Knowing it might even cost you family.

Knowing it will cost you everything you once held in esteem.

Knowing people are gossiping.

Knowing satan will use people to undermine everything Yahweh is calling you to be.

You take the dare. You follow wherever He leads, whatever the cost. You put it all in perspective: these are people and their opinions whom satan uses for the noise they create for the purpose of your distraction. Yahweh has called you to be set apart; to be holy because He is holy. So you turn down the noise, put your nose in your Bible, and you meditate on His Word day and night because that is how you learn who Yeshua is and how to walk as He walked. You pray. You pray often and with great zeal. You pray to be a light fueled by Truth to a broken and dying world. You focus on Yeshua. You make changes in your life by applying Truth, one truth at the time as you learn each one. And slowly, surely, you find the narrow path. You stay the course because we are called to set an example and we can not exemplify a life we do not live and we can not reflect a Savior we do not know.

In the end, it comes down to the words you want to hear when we all stand before Him: Depart from me I never knew you or well done good and faithful servant.

Choose wisely, my friends.

The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion. ~ Paulo Coelho

…being persuaded of this, that He who has begun a good work in you shall perfect it until the day of Yeshua Messiah. ~ Philiipians 1:6

The Father has been working on me for a while now, spurring new thoughts and understandings, molding me and shaping me to closer resemble His vision of me. To some of you it may seem possibly I fell off the edge of the world or gave up writing or decided being a hermit was a better option than living among society. The truth is Yahweh has turned my entire world upside down and shown me truths about Him, about His Word, about myself, I could never have imagined. And as each new day dawns, when I think I could not be any more amazed, He reveals more truth, more depth of understanding, more wisdom.

There was a time when I believed that salvation was the end goal and afterwards I ought to just do my best to be a good person. And then if I did something wrong or Yahweh wanted me to do something for Him, I would get a feeling – a nudge, an idea, an intuition – and it would just seem like the right thing to do; that obedience was turning those feelings into actions. But feelings flow from the heart and Jeremiah tells me my heart, above all things is wicked and deceitful and none can know it and Solomon tells me to guard myheart because all I do flows from it. These warnings are imperative because I am a carnal being, my flesh self-serving.

And The Father put me here to serve Him and not myself.Because it is never about me; it is always about Him. There is only one truth: His truth. The only way to learn that truth is to come before Him in stillness and humility with an ear trained to listen, an eye trained to see, and a mind trained to meditate on His word. He has revealed truth to me no man can teach and His word tells me that if His word abides in me, I have no need for a teacher because He will teach me.

When I walked away from the altar and was baptized, it was the beginning, not the end. The goal is not salvation; the goal is sanctification. And sanctification is a process that never ends. Salvation is the pivot point, the opening door, the beginning of an intimate relationship with Yeshua, our Messiah, who because of His gift of grace allows me to be in fellowship with The Father. It is then Yahweh is able to mold me into a vessel for use by cultivating my fruits reflecting the gospel message to the world. Because truly the best sermons are lived, not preached.

I will not sit here and write to you that sanctification comes easily. I have fought Him as much as I have delighted in fellowship with Him. I have questioned and doubted and prayed pleading prayers. I have told Him, in great detail, how much differently I would be handling things. And yet, I can look back and reflect on how perfectly He is teaching me and changing me.

A friend told me, just the other day while we sat drinking coffee, that we always look at things from our own perspective and we must understand we are not the only people Yahweh is working on – everyone we interact with is learning a lesson from Him too. And that has stuck with me. I have rolled it around and considered it and I realized something so profound that before had eluded me: this is why it is so important to be grounded in the Word. It teaches me how to behave and how to respond in every circumstance and if I follow its instructions for living, I can accurately reflect the gospel in everything I do, in everything I say, everywhere I am, and with whomever I interact.

I walked away from my Southern Baptist church just shy of two years ago and began a journey discovering the Hebraic roots of my faith. I entered this journey as simply desiring to live a Biblical life: learn the truth of the scriptures in the context of their writing by using the Bible as the sole authority. For a time I was a part of a group who I thought had the same intentions, but who have since gravitated to the Hebrew Roots movement. I have found them to be just as intolerant as my previous church to whomever strays from their own ideas or questions behaviors, doctrines, and teachings not aligning with scripture.

So I found myself in a time of isolation which turned into a time of daily sweet fellowship with Yahweh. This solitude has become a sanctuary of peace and stillness before Him. In 1 John 2:27 it says, “And you, the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But just as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is no lie, and just as it has taught you, you shall abide in Him.”So now is the time for me to rest in Him and allow His Word to flood the places laid bare by questions and doubt and hurts inflicted by those claiming to belong to Him. It is a time to have gratitude for having man instituted doctrines and cultish ungodliness pruned from my life, for focus being redirected to where it belongs – on Yeshua. For in all things I serve either the world or Yeshua, it is one or it is the other, but I can not serve both. I will be known by my fruits. He has brought me to a place where I can choose on what I stand and who I follow. Always I will choose the Father’s doctrine and always I will choose to follow Yeshua.

And what do I believe?

I believe every word of scripture is inspired and breathed by Yahweh (God) Himself.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 Hebrews 4:12

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I believe Yahweh does not change.

Malachi 3:6 Hebrews 13:8

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I believe Yeshua (Jesus) is a gift of grace and the source of my salvation – a salvation that can not be earned no matter what I do. He is The Word made flesh – the walking, breathing, living Torah. He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life and the only way to The Father. He is coming again to reign as King.

I believe that Yeshua is the Son of Yahweh and was born of the virgin Mary as prophesied.

Isaiah 7:14 Luke 11 John 4:9

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I believe Yeshua died for my sins, laid in the grave for 3 nights and 3 days, rose again, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Matthew 12:40 Mark 16:19 Psalm 110:1 Luke24:51

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I believe Yeshua is my intercessor.

Hebrews 7:25 Romans 8:34

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I believe I am to be obedient to all Yahweh’s commandments; I may not pick and choose my way through them. I am not to add to nor take away from them. They are statutes to be followed perpetually, forever, and throughout all generations.

John 3:17 Leviticus 24:22 Exodus 12:49 Numbers 15:16 Deuteronomy 4:2

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I believe the seventh day Sabbath instituted at creation is to be kept holy.

Genesis 2:1-3 Exodus 16, 20:10 Mark 2:27

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I believe all persons entrusted to teach, preach, or prophesy must pass the Deuteronomy 13 test.

Deuteronomy 13

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I believe the Ruach Ha’qodesh (Holy Spirit) is my helper sent at Shavuot (Pentecost) so that the Torah could be written on my heart. The Set-apart Spirit guides me in walking as Yeshua did when He walked the earth setting the example I am to follow.

Jeremiah 31:331 John 2:6

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I believe the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) is still to be followed and instructs me in being one of a set apart people as Yahweh instructs me to be. I am to be holy for He is holy.

Leviticus 20:261 Peter 1:15-17

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I believe that Yeshua did not come to abolish the law, but magnify it and be my example of what it looked like to live it perfectly. I believe that Yeshua did not come to teach a new doctrine, but taught the doctrine of The Father.

Matthew 5:17-20 John 7:16 Proverbs 4:2

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I believe that sin is transgression of the law.

1 John 3:4 Matthew 5:19, 7:21-23

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I believe the law is not burdensome as is currently taught in church.

1 John 5:2-4 Deuteronomy 30:11

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I believe Yahweh does nothing without first revealing it to His servants the prophets; His plan for this world and His created are perfectly and in-errantly contained within The Holy Scriptures.

Amos 3:7

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I believe that Yahweh loves our unity as long as if is founded in His Truth.

In August, while still attending the Hebrew Roots fellowship, I was warned by the leader’s wife that I should not be writing because it was a form of teaching and women were not to teach. It came on the heels of my writing the previous three blogs. No one, not one pastor, not one person, had ever told me this before. I had to re-evaluate the purpose of this blog. It set me back and caused me to question whether I should be writing because above all I want to be aligned with the authority of Scripture. It forced me to go back and reread my posts, and while I found places where my understanding was incorrect and skewed by the doctrines of men, I found this blog to be what it was always intended to be: a record of my journey with Yahweh. It is a place where I hope you see His mercy and grace and infinite love, a place where I hope it causes you to reflect on your own journey. I am in no way attempting to hold any authority over you. I author this blog under the full authority of my husband and he reads everything I post prior to it being posted.I am a disciple and a student of Yeshua. I am learning how to walk as He walked. I am doing my best to follow His example. He tells me to make disciples and to teach them His commandments; the only way I know to do this is to mimic His example and share what I am learning day by day as I spend time in His presence. I will not ever claim to have it all figured out and should you find error in my understanding I would hope you would contact me or comment and share your knowledge. It is important we help each other learn. This blog has only ever been about my journey walking with Yahweh and that is all it will ever be. It is my hope that what is displayed here in these pages is love and humility and through these words that I write you see light shined in darkness to illuminate His Truth.

]]>http://www.elizabethmarchman.com/2017/02/the-slippage-of-time/feed/0Grace: the intersection between The Creator and the createdhttp://www.elizabethmarchman.com/2016/08/grace-the-intersection-between-the-creator-and-the-created/
http://www.elizabethmarchman.com/2016/08/grace-the-intersection-between-the-creator-and-the-created/#respondFri, 12 Aug 2016 22:30:48 +0000http://www.elizabethmarchman.com/?p=1489

Grace is the intersection where Creator and created meet to form an intimate and holy relationship allowing the created to walk in the image of the Creator, and that in doing so the Creator’s love shines through the created bringing light to a darkened world. Faith is the hope of the created in the Creator that secures this belief: along the path, regardless of what remains unseen and whatever may lie ahead, the creator is infinitely good and is to be trusted. Obedience is the created’s divinely inspired behavior; it is the willful adherence to the Creator’s Truth which bares fruitful evidence and honest witness of the grace that love has borne.

Most believe grace is simply Jesus’ gift resulting from His death on the cross, but grace has existed since the beginning.

The first place I see evidence of this grace is in the garden. God’s created have been disobedient to His commandment. He boots them from the garden as punishment, but He also makes clothes for them. He covers them so they will not be ashamed; He covers them because He loves them and because of this love, His mercy is great. And yes, it is grace -the unmerited favor, the lovingkindness, the giving of something unearned and undeserved.

So in the beginning, there was grace: a gift that can never, no matter what, ever be earned, and borne solely from God’s love for His created. Jesus is the manifestation of that grace. In Jesus, we have everything we need to live a set apart, holy life devoted to God.

We have a sin sacrifice.

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ~1 John 4:10

We have forgiveness.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.~ Ephesians 1:7

We have salvation.

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.. ~ 2 Timothy 1:9

We have the Word.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ~ John 1:1-3

We have a perfect example of obedience that produces holiness.

whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. ~ 1 John 2:6

After salvation begins the sanctification – the learning to be holy because God is holy.Sanctification is the perpetual purging by God of our fleshly desires and worldly pursuits until when we are looked upon, it is not us that is seen, but Jesus.There must be effort on our behalf to live set apart so we no longer mirror the world. It occurs through obedience; obedience begins by reading, studying, and meditating upon the Word. Jesus prayed for our sanctification long ago – Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. ~ John 17:17. And for us, it is a life long pursuit.

Jesus was the final sacrifice for our sins. And because of his death on the cross, we no longer must sacrifice animals in order to atone for those sins. There is a misconception that animal sacrifice was what saved those in the old testament from their sins and it is wholly inaccurate. It was their faith and love for God that was strong enough to create obedience to follow his instruction; their faith in and love for God were evident through their obedience to His law. God could see their righteousness and it was evident to those in their presence. For Christians today, it is the same: our faith in and love for God is seen through our obedience to His law. And his law is nothing more than our instruction of how to live, how to love and how to be holy.Our obedience to God’s law is the only thing that sets us apart.After all, even the demons believe and shutter; they believe, but they do not follow. Along the way, we will stumble and make mistakes, but this is where grace steps in and covers us because of Jesus’ sacrifice.

Grace must exist for faith to grow and faith is enabled when love is the center focus. We focus on love when we make God the center of who we are and all we do. Our faith undergirds our hope and our assurance that God is trustworthy in all He says He will do and who He says He is. And if obedience is the evidence of love, then faith is the rope we use to tie ourselves to God. It is faith that allows trust to exist between God and ourselves.It is faith that allows us to hope and be assured that God is unchanging and loves us so much He would put Jesus on a cross for us, a provision created from the beginning. Faith is why Noah was obedient to build the ark before he saw the first cloud or felt the first drop of rain. Faith is why, when Isaac inquired about the sacrifice, Abraham told him God would provide one.

For without faith, we are incapable of obedience and without obedience, there is no evidence of our love. Grace is the covering which allows the pieces to fit together in such an intimate way whereby sanctification occurs naturally, instinctively as our relationship with our Father grows. In the end, faith, love, and obedience are all possible because of the lavish, unmerited gift of God’s grace. And that is the intersection where we all stand at every moment of our existence. It is a place of divine wonder and extravagant love in a town called Truth. These crossroads are first, the outstretched arms of a Savior, and beyond them lies the narrow path of sanctification and holiness we travel to become one with Him just as He is one with the Father.

So now we take these first steps past those outstretched arms and onto the narrow path to follow Jesus. We take these steps in faith, in hope, and in obedience because we know He is the Word and the Word is Truth, and by it we are sanctified. And because of grace, God’s love is evident to us and in this, we can trust.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ~ Hebrews 4:12

I would like to pose some questions and allow scripture to answer them without any further commentary from myself at this time; in the weeks to come, I will be expounding on these scriptures. Understand, the scriptures I have given are not answers as a whole, but merely a starting point for pondering and further discussion in upcoming posts.

As disciples of Jesus, we are called to not only walk in Spirit, but also in Truth; to be a disciple is to be a truth seeker. Without knowing and understanding truth, we are incapable of following Jesus’ instructions to “go and make disciples” for how will we teach truth, if we first have not sought the truth in its entirety.

So let us seek truth as hidden treasure….

What is the purpose of scripture?

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. ~ 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Is God’s word eternal?

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. ~ Isaiah 40: 8

Does God do anything without first revealing it to His prophets?

“For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. ~ Amos 3:7

Does God change?

For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. ~ Malachi 3:6

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. ~ Hebrews 13:8

Who is Jesus?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made …And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ~ John 1:1-3,14

He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. ~Revelation 19:13

Jesus said to him, “I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” ~ John 14:6-7

Did Jesus preach a new doctrine?

Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. ~ John 7:16

How do we show God that we love Him?

If you love me, you will keep My commandments. ~ John 14:15

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. ~ 1 John 5:3

Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.” ~ John 14:21

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him. ~ John 14:23

By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments. ~ 1 John 2:3

And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love. ~ 2 John 1:6

How long are we to keep His commandments?

You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always ~ Deuteronomy 11:1

Who are God’s commandments for?

There shall be one law for the native and the stranger who sojourns among you.”

~ Exodus 12:49

As for the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien be before the LORD. ~ Numbers 15:15

What is sin?

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. ~ 1 John 3:4

What happens to those who practice lawlessness?

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’~ Matthew 7:21-23

Did Jesus dying on the cross remove the law?

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ~ Matthew 5:17-19

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth has passed away... Also there was no more sea. Then I, John,saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” ~ Revelations 21:1-4

Why did Jesus give us only two commandments?

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets..” ~ Matthew 22:36-40

Can we worship God in any way we choose?

You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you. ~ Deuteronomy 4:2

“Do not worship the LORD your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods. Deuteronomy 12:4

Does God allow us to create tradition that contradicts His Word?

The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. ~ Isaiah 29:13

“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” Matthew 15:8-9

You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! Mark 7:8-9

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. ~ Proverbs 2:1-5

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” ~ Matthew 13:44

I will wholeheartedly agree people say stupid things. Utterly. Stupid. Things. The more tragic, the stupider the comments. And that stupidity breeds hurt, pain, confusion. It will make you want to spit in the face of the person that uttered the stupidity. I know. I have lived through tragedy. I have been the recipient of such comments.

However, of all the things you stated in your post, it is number five on the list, I can not let go of because we do not live in a random, chaotic world ruled over by a God who sleeps or gets distracted or is oblivious to what is happening to His created. And you make it sound as if God has no control.

Here is what you stated:

5. “Everything happens for a reason”

No. It just doesn’t.

Evil has no reason. It is anti-reason. And anti-love.

And don’t spout any nonsense about evil balancing out the good. Evil balances nothing. It keeps everything off balance.

That’s why God hates it.

“Everything happens for a reason” is more pagan than Christian. It’s more about Karma than Christ.

Evil is not supposed to happen. It does. Obviously. But it shouldn’t.

The errancy in these statements are astounding. A book could be written refuting them.

“Everything happens for a reason” No. It just doesn’t.

Actually, yes it just does.

And Solomon explains this in Ecclesiastes 3:1-9:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

So with these verses in mind, I will submit the two following statements are true and supported by scripture:

No one can die without God’s knowledge or permission.

Evil can not be carried out unless God allows it to be.

No one can die without God’s knowledge or permission. (Matthew 10)

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ~ Matthew 10:29

In Matthew 10, we have Jesus speaking to the disciples, giving them authority and sending them forth to do God’s work. He is instructing them and He is warning them. He tells them to expect persecution and not to fear death and then Jesus says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.(v. 29-31)

Just to give some perspective… Sparrows were in such great quantity, they were insignificant apart from their nuisance behavior. They were everywhere. They were intrusive and possessive, and apparently, they had no reverence for even sacred places. David tells us in Psalm 84:3 that the sparrow even nests in the Lord’s altars. They were ensnared and disposed of with eagerness because they were a nuisance and they were cheap because of their seemingly never-ending quantity. But Jesus tells us that not even a sparrow dies without the Father’s consent or knowledge. He says that every single hair on our head is numbered.

Does this sound as if God were oblivious? Or unaware? Does it sound that evil just snuck up and caught Him off guard? I think not. Not only did God know who would die that day, he decided it was their time to die. Why He chose when and who He did is only for Him to know and not for us to question.

Evil can not be carried out unless God allows it to be. (Job 1:6-12, 2:1-10)

And the Lord said to satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So satan went out from the presence of the Lord. ~ Job 1:12

In the book of Job, we learn about Job and all that God allows to befall him at satan’s hand. In the first five verses, we are given a glimpse into Job’s life and it is pretty sweet. God has blessed him mightily. But it is also revealed why…Job was blameless and upright, a man who feared God and turned away from evil. He offered burnt offerings to the Lord, not only for himself, but also for his children. Scripture says he did this continually.

Then things take a turn because evil is allowed an opportunity.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?”

So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”

So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”

And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. ~ Job 1:6-12

Here we have a perfect picture of 1 Peter 5:8, Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. And why does satan do this, prowl around in search of someone to devour? To destroy you spiritually. He roams and seeks opportunity to afflict us with so much pain and heartache that we will turn our backs to God.

And this is how he attacks Job. Satan lays waste to everything he has – his children, his property, his livestock -leaving Job to mourn and to say, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I shall return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” Chapter one wraps up with these words, “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”

Another day comes, and the sons of God come before Him and once again satan joins them. Again, he has been prowling around and up to no good and he tells God so. So God points out that he failed with Job – he was unable to persecute him enough to turn him against God. But satan, crafty and sly as always, points out God has not allowed satan to touch Job, only his possessions. This time satan wants Job and does he ever have plans for him. Once more, God grants satan permission to inflict at will, but refuses to allow satan to go as far as to take Job’s life.

And satan wastes no time. The moment he leaves the Lord’s presence, he strikes Job with loathsome sores from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. As Job sits in his ashes mourning and scraping sores with a broken piece of pottery, his bitter sass-mouthing wife, spits the words at him, “curse God and die.” But he admonishes her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” Chapter two wraps up with these words, “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

Evil must ask permission from God before it may act and it may only act within the parameters God Himself sets.

To say, “evil just happens,” is to say God relinquishes control of the our existence and the world in which we live; it would mean God is not omnipotent, omniscient or omnipresent, and it would mean we live in chaos. And was this not God’s first task, to not only create, but bring order order to that creation? He methodically, with purpose and with intent and with great care, spoke each element of our world into existence, in its proper time and put it into its proper place.

To make such a statement is wildly reckless and wholly irresponsible. But to say it to people grappling with understanding in a tragedy, is cruel. Because you are saying that God is ignorant of the events befalling His created nor does He care. You are saying random things happen for no reason at all and that breeds anxiety and fear in the living and in the left behind. You are saying their life had no purpose or meaning because God did not bother to count the cost of their death even though scripture says He numbered all the hairs upon their head and planned out all their days.

You are saying God is not in control.

If He is not, then evil is.

And that is the most errant insinuation of them all: God has no control over evil.

By saying this, you have peddled a lie to the hurting and multiplied their pain a thousandfold. It was worse than any false platitude that might be uttered because it was a lie and satan is the father of lies and you, a pastor who should be serving God, have just done satan’s work. It would have been better had you shut your mouth and said nothing at all.

To speculate on why God does what He does is foolish and arrogant. To go to scripture and seek the truth about the character of God is wise.

Here is a mere sampling of what scripture has to say about God:

God is omniscient. He knows everything. His knowledge is complete. It is limitless, boundless, and unable to be measured or calculated. Consider Psalm 147:5…

Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.

God is omnipotent. He has unlimited power. He is able to do anything He pleases. He has no limits except those He imposes upon Himself. Consider the following:

Nebuchadnezzar praises Him for it in Daniel 4:35; Job declares it before Him in Job 42:1-2; Jesus says there is nothing too impossible for God in Matthew 19:26; an angel conveys it to Mary when sharing news of Elizabeth’s pregnancy in Luke 1:37; and Isaiah declares it to the Assyrians in Isaiah 14:27 when he says, “For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who can annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?”

Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

Jeremiah 23:23-24 “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.

Psalm 139:7-12 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me,and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

God is immutable. He is unchanging. He is unable to be changed. Consider:

Malachi 3:6 For I am the Lord; I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

God is sovereign. He is free to act in whatever way He determines is best for us. Although scripture is full of God’s sovereignty, do we need to look any further than the beginning of our existence in Genesis?

I could go on listing attributes. He is love (I John 4). He is holy (I Peter 1:16, Leviticus 20:26). He is gracious, righteous and merciful (Psalm 116:5).

The evil allowed in this world has but one purpose: to cause people to seek God. Because evil is allowed for the simple reason we have turned our backs to Him. We have so far removed Him from our lives and our world that it seems He is not present. However, I can assure you, it is we who have moved.

But God is near.

So very near.

And He is waiting for us, His people, to return to Him.

Peruse the Old Testament and example after example can be found where God’s people drifted away from Him; God lifted up pagan nations to carry out actions against them to humble them, and then God punished the pagan nations for their eagerness to carry out such evil against His people.

Evil exists because without God in our lives, we choose it.

Why?

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

Romans 1 describes how God will give men up to their evil, darkened hearts and their debased minds. Turn your back on God and He will let evil have its way because you have chosen it, not because it is what He wants for you.

What God wants for us is to live a holy, set apart life so that everything we do points others to His love and the salvation offered through Jesus’ gift on the cross. Unfortunately, most choose a fleeting, worldly existence to satisfy their fleshly desires. They flock to churches with pastors who tickle their ears with lies and pervert God’s word. They want to feel good and justified in their sin, and in this day and age are they ever catered to.

Sitting in church hearing God’s truth should be an unsettling experience. We ought to leave questioning how we need to allow God to work in our lives so that we are holy because He is holy. It ought to create change in us and by default in the people around us and that change should ripple out into the world.

But that can not happen when pastors make errant statements and publish them on the internet. I pray that you will take a step back, correct your words, and honor God by sharing His truth and not some filtered version of it that creates further distance between God and His people.

So while false platitudes are harmful, so are lies. And I believe that is why I find reason number five on your list so reprehensible. One might not know what to say and sometimes silence is better, and yes, we should cry with those who cry. But is it not far better to speak the truth?

Yes. It was tragic.

Yes. I know you are hurting.

Yes. Explanation escapes me.

But God…

He knows.

He has purpose in everything He does and everyone He created.

He is sovereign and just and merciful and good.

And we can trust in His word. And we can trust in His Truth.

Because above all, He is love.

God will not protect you from anything that will make you more like Jesus ~ Elisabeth Elliot